What are the Best Collaboration Options for Modern Businesses?
As businesses increasingly move their operations to digital platforms, and in particular to cloud space, even the most traditional staples of running an organization are being improved by embracing technology.[wcm_restrict]
Document Sharing at the Basic Level
Numerous popular applications are available for uses such as document sharing. Dropbox and Google Docs are particularly widely used as a means of remote collaboration. Both platforms now even fully support editing “in-app,” removing the need to download a document a colleague uploaded before editing and re-uploading themselves.
Try Dropbox for Business
Try Google Docs
Users can even watch as colleagues update data or text in real time, or open chat windows to discuss changes that need to be made. These apps aren’t merely limited to two colleagues at a time, either. Multiple stakeholders can get involved, leading to a more efficient workflow and businesses being able to achieve their objectives quicker.
Collaborative Workspaces
While the above apps have proven popular, businesses often need something different in order to provide a collaborative workspace beyond the reviewing and editing of documents and spreadsheets. This often leads businesses to use project management apps. Many different variances of these types of apps are available.
Podio is a popular, hybrid style app that offers both a live chat/messaging stream as well as the ability to upload and share documents. Leaders can also be appointed within the app, and private messaging can be setup within one account, enabling easy collaboration as well as the sharing of any confidential documentation or discussions among relevant team members.
Apps such as Pivotal Tracker and Basecamp bring together all of these features. Pivotal Tracker even measures the ‘velocity’ of projects by providing visualizations of when tasks are completed, giving users a snapshot of how their individual tasks as well as an overall project is project is progressing.
Try Podio
Try Basecamp
Try Pivotal Tracker
Collaboration for Board Members and Management Teams
Document sharing and project management apps, although widely used across business operations at all levels, can still leave a gap when it comes to boardrooms and management teams. Although apps such as Skype and GoToMeeting have long been popular for hosting remote meetings and bringing together teams from across the world, in recent years the emergence of board portal software has proven to be a game changer in this field.
Board portal software is today considered an essential in many businesses, with FTSE 100 companies in the United Kingdom, Fortune 500 companies in the United States, as well as governments across the world, using the available platforms to make their board meetings more productive and improve the efficiency of their leadership operations as a whole. While there are numerous examples of collaboration software available for businesses to consider, using an independent review service can help you find the most suitable product for your company quicker. Crowd Reviews is considered one of the leading websites in this respect, and you can read their reviews of collaboration software here.
Crowd Reviews rates Azeus Convene as the leading provider in this space, but carries information and reviews of the top 100 collaboration software products.
Collaboration Tools are an Essential
Does your business consider collaboration tools an essential for maintaining productive operations? Which tools does your business use? How effective are they at meeting your business objectives, and perhaps more importantly, how effective are you at getting the most out of their features to make your business operations more efficient?
Ask yourself these questions when choosing or assessing your use of collaboration platforms, whether you’re using relatively simple document sharing apps or need an all-in-one solution for your executive leadership team.[/wcm_restrict][wcm_nonmember]
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About the Author
Gemma Walford is head of Sales and Account Management for Convene for the EU region. She has extensive experience of the Public sector and is interested in improving productivity and business change.